


To End and Begin

by hyuckedoff



Series: Santa Monica Beach [3]
Category: NCT, We Go Up - NCT Dream (Music Video)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Huang Ren Jun & Na Jaemin Are Best Friends, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is Whipped, Lee Jeno is Whipped, M/M, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Lee Jeno, Multi, Soft Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Some Plot, cutie, for a brat i mean, help this boy, is struggling, jaemin has bad luck shshd, jisung is wise, kind of, na jaemin centric, this is kind of iffy tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-25 20:37:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17732240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyuckedoff/pseuds/hyuckedoff
Summary: Jeno thinks Jisung Park is the ultimate brat and Jaemin thinks he's a godsend





	To End and Begin

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't forget to comment! Even a simple smiley face will do!!  
> Underlined sentences are spoken in Korean btw  
> [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/hyuckedoff)  
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/hyuckedoff)  
> Ask me anything!!

Jaemin opened the door haphazardly as he entered the apartment, putting the spare key back on top of the ledge of the door. He was utterly exhausted, yesterday still fresh on his mind and, _Jesus _, that was the worst thing that had happened to him this month.__  
Jeno jumps in his place on the couch as his friend bursts through the door with a pout on his face, wearing a compression shirt and jogging pants- he must be upset..again. The older quickly presses a finger to his own lips, telling the other to quietly ‘shut the fuck up’ as Donghyuck was still asleep. Jaemin rolls his eyes and puts his hands on his hips, deflated.  
“I need a run,” Jeno sighs at this and gets up and looks at his watch.  
“It’s only 8:30, Jaem.”  
“I’ve had a rough morning and night.” The brown haired boy sighs as he walks into Hyuck’s, and now Jeno’s, bedroom to grab his friend the running shoes he had gifted him last year for his birthday, ignoring the snoring lump on the bed under the deep red covers. He comes back through the beaded curtain and tosses the shoes to the boy writing a quick message on a sticky note, probably telling his boyfriend where he was and to _not _go panicking again. He puts the note on the island in the kitchen and puts on the shoes thrown at him.__  
Soon they both walk out of the apartment, Jaemin making them take the stairs in all his sad and fit glory. Three flights of stairs are nothing to the boys as they exit the complex and start their regular trek down 4th street and onto Arizona Ave. Jeno takes the quiet walk as a chance to entertain himself as to what exactly Jaemin has gotten into this time. The boy was too good for this world, the last time (and Jeno’s favorite mix up) he ever got in trouble being when he supposedly tried to kidnap a dog when in reality he was trying to untangle the poor pup from its leash. He was golden, but just a bit bad with luck.  
Jeno couldn’t help the quiet laugh he lets out, remembering Jaemin getting hit multiple times for trying to return a missing purse, making his breathing stagger a bit more as he jogged. His friend ahead of him slows down into a walk and rests his hand on Jeno’s shoulder as they finally reach Ocean Avenue.  
“I did something stupid,” He announces, squinting as the morning sun shines in the clear blue sky, letting the freckles that started to litter his face become a little more obvious, the older smiles.  
“I’m already aware.”  
Jaemin rolls his eyes and mumbles something unintelligible, scrunches his face, and continues.  
“Yesterday I was at that one ice cream parlor where Jungwoo works.”  
He sighs and cringes at the memory.  
“To make it short and as painless as possible, I was trying to flirt with him but somehow got him a date with my brother?”  
Jeno balks and lets out a hard laugh and Jaemin frowns harder than ever before,  
“How do you even do that?” The raven-haired boy wheezes out after a good minute of laughing and pats his sulking friend on his back.  
“One minute I’m complimenting his smile and the next I’m talking about Yuta’s soccer scholarship and how he knows three languages,” Jaemin rubs a hand over his face and sighs.  
Jeno can’t help the smile on his face, he felt sorry for his best friend- he really did, but this was such a Jaemin thing to happen, it was ridiculous. He puts a hand in the pocket of his basketball shorts and uses the other to pat the other’s broad back.  
“You know what I’m gonna say, Na.”  
“ _‘Things happen for a reason _’” Jaemin mocks, air quotes included and scrunches his nose before walking again.__  
“But I really liked him,”  
Jeno shakes his head and follows.  
“No, you didn’t. You just like cute things- including people.”  
“He _is _really cute,” The younger admits, pout yet again significant on his lips. He takes a minute to himself and runs a hand through his hair with a huff.__  
“But I guess that’s pretty much it.”  
Jaemin mulls over the thoughts in his head- maybe this was for the best. Not for him, but for his brother. Yuta deserves someone, hopefully, that someone was the sweet, tall boy who loved to flirt with anyone in his general proximity.  
“Yuta better not mess this up.” Jeno laughs at his friend’s words and runs ahead, a silent challenge to the other to race down to Colorado Avenue.  
They arrive at the boardwalk sometime later, Jaemin gloating about getting there first- the other rolls his eyes, the familiar scent of sea salt and terribly greasy foods flooding his senses as he caught his breath.  
“If I didn’t trip, I would’ve-“  
“Jisung!” Jeno’s claim is cut short as Jaemin, still full of energy, bounds across the pier that was surprisingly empty, save for a few bystanders including the lanky kid. The said boy looks up from his phone, white sunglasses standing out on his orange head as his normally bored facial expression turned into one of distress.  
“Oh god,” he groaned, audible to everyone yet coming unheard on Jaemin’s ears as he slung his arms around the younger boy.  
“How’s my favorite kid doing?”  
Jisung nudges the arms off of his shoulders, neutral expression settling in again as he shrugged in disinterest. Brat.  
“Selling some tapes- might dance if anyone comes out of their houses.” He nudges the five CDs that are set by the nearby lamppost with his foot and puts his hands in his pockets.  
“Learn anything new with Ten?” Jeno tries asking, maybe it’ll open him up a little bit.  
“ No, duh.” Right. Yup.  
The shorter doesn’t know what irks him the most: the way Jisung Park has _no _manners whatsoever or the way he is always stuck with that stupid poker face on his.__  
Jaemin nudges Jeno’s shoulder and gives him a pointed look as the older puts his lips in a thin line, trying not to speak his mind.  
“I know whatever you’re working on is going to be great, so talented and cute, best dancer I’ve ever seen!“ Jaemin pinches the younger’s cheeks quickly before getting swatted away.  
“You know I can’t understand a single thing you just said.”  
“But you have the cutest expression when I speak Korean!”  
“it’s literally the same expression he has on every day.“ Jeno mumbles, Jaemin ignores him and talks aimlessly to Jisung who’s most likely only half listening.  
Jeno’s phone buzzes in his pocket, he picks it up gratefully. The time he spends avoiding the way Jaemin talks so sweetly to the younger is a time well spent.  
“Hello?”  
“Jeno, I have a favorrr~,” Donghyuck sing songs on the other end of the line,  
“What is it?” Jeno looks up to the blue sky, smiling brightly at the sun with his free hand in his pocket.  
“I need my medicine- I forgot to get it yesterday and I’m too lazy to get them right now,”  
Jeno looks at the two in front of him- it probably wasn’t the best time to leave Jaemin alone, Jisung will probably leave him once Chenle texts him too.  
“I’m still busy with Nana, Renjun will bring it-“  
“If he’s really bringing it, don’t forget to give him hints to where the spare key is. If I find out you gave him the exact location I _will _kill you, Lee.”__  
“I got it, Lee.” The older nods his head, knowing that Donghyuck would, and probably could kill him if he did not play along.  
“Bye, Baby,” Hyuck says all too sweetly, making the other boy blush like an idiot.  
“Bye, Hyuckie,” Jeno says, hanging up with the biggest smile Jisung has ever seen from him.  
“Gross.” The older ignores him as he goes to Renjun’s contact.  
“I think it’s pretty cute-“  
Jeno presses the call button once more and the smaller answers fairly quickly.  
“What is it?” Renjun all but yells into the phone, something resembling Train playing in the background.  
“Just a favor, I’ll pay you back.”  
“No- it’s whatever.” His voice lowers as the music is muted.  
“Get Hyuck’s MBTs for me?”  
“Still at the CVS?”  
“Yea,”  
“Okay, well-“  
“Wait!” Jeno recognizes his tone as the ‘im hanging up’ one and nearly has a heart attack.  
“Top shelf,”  
“Top shelf?” Renjun repeats, confused and getting his keys from his coffee table.  
“Uh, they have gummies on the top shelf by the entrance now.” Jeno cringes at his honest to god terrible hint as Renjun grunts into the phone.  
“You know those things get in my braces, Jen.”  
“Yea just wanted to make sure you knew where they, uh, were.”  
….  
“Like, on the very top shelf.”  
….  
“They’re on top.”  
“ Goodbye, Jeno.” The blonde hung up quickly, probably irritated, Jeno pocketed the phone and sighed.  
“So what’s so special about the top shelf?” Jaemin questioned, and Jeno inwardly groans again.  
“Hyuck wanted me to give Junie a hint of where the key was instead of telling him where it was.”  
“Not surprising at all,” Jisung mumbled while Jaemin laughed and shook his head-  
“Jisung was talking about going to the Slackline Park and other fun places, Jeno.”  
“I specifically said I didn’t-“  
“So I thought we’d go there in a bit.” He interrupted the younger boy with a large smile. Jeno let out a light laugh and shrugged.  
“Whatever you want to do, Jaem.”

_ ____ _

Being Na Jaemin’s best friend has probably been the best thing to have ever happened to Jeno- save for being with Lee Donghyuck, that was definitely first. It wasn’t surprising seeing as they’ve known each other for, as Renjun would put it, entirely too long. Maybe that was why Jeno still had about 70% of his sanity left while running around with Jaemin and the kid for about six hours, the only wave of irritation coming when Jisung was overtly rude or denied having fun. Then again, he got to see said boy struggle to do at least one pull up at Slackline and that was a pretty good experience for Jeno.  
“That was fucked,” The orange haired boy plops on the sand, breath labored and eyes hidden by his sunglasses. Jeno and Jaemin joined him, the older brushing sand out of Jisung’s hair.  
“You need to cut down the swearing.” He chides and can feel Jisung trying to roll his eyes. _Keyword: trying _.__  
“Cmon Jen, he’s just a kid! He’s still learning-“ Jaemin wraps an arm around the other.  
“I’m seventeen-“  
“He’s seventeen-“ the two others say in unison, both wearing unamused expressions and Jaemin only shrugs.  
“Still a baby. Oh, and it’s 4:40 by the way, Jenjen.”  
Jeno cringes at the nickname and looks down at his watch.  
“Oh shit, you’re right.” He whispers and stands up, already heading back to Hyuck’s apartment.  
“For someone so against me cursing, you sure do it a fuckton.”  
“Shut up, Jisung. I’ll see you later, Jaem!” He yells before continuing on his way off of the beach and on his own route.  
Jaemin huffed as his friend left, letting his brown hair flow through the wind aimlessly.  
He stayed like that till Jisung spoke up.  
“I’m gonna go to the skatepark, you in?” He held out his phone screen, showing a text from Chenle. Jaemin nodded and got up, he’d definitely feel the burn in his calves tomorrow from walking so much, but the feeling was worth it and would undoubtedly help him get his mind off things.  
After another few minutes of silence while walking, Jisung took off his glasses and put his hand on the older’s shoulder.  
“What’s wrong?” His voice came out softer than usual, eyebrows slightly furrowed.  
“Nothing, why?” The taller closed his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh,  
“Jaemin- I know when you’re upset, dude.”  
The shorter shakes his head and starts walking again, the other follows with a groan. It’s quiet for another minute before Jaemin finally lets loose.  
“It’s just- I guess I’m ready for summer to be over,” the younger nods for him to continue.  
“I- uh, it’s like everyone is living, like _actually _living life and I’m just going through the stupid motions.” Jaemin lets his eyebrows knit together as he talks.__  
“Clarify a little bit?” The older nods.  
“Everyone is living like this perfect, cheesy lifetime movie and falling in love like it’s nothing and I’m just alone. I mean, Jesus, Jisung, I can't even flirt right! I set someone up with my _brother _while trying to make a move- how do you even do that?!” His wild hand gestures stop and he finishes his rant with a sigh.__  
“It’s unfair.”  
Jisung puts his hands in the pockets of his shorts as the sound of wheels hitting pavement becomes more prominent and he stops walking as sand finally meets gravel.  
“You don’t have to fall in love to make the summer fun, Jaemin.”  
The older looks down at his feet, biting his lip.  
“Stop making summer out to be something so life-changing. If you keep romanticizing shit that shouldn’t be romanticized, then you’re obviously going to have a bad fucking time.” Jisung finishes nonchalantly, he looks up as he hears Chenle scream his name, waving with one hand as the other holds onto the handle of his scooter. Jisung waves back, putting his sunglasses back on as he looks back at Jaemin with an uncharacteristically nice smile.  
“Just try to enjoy the _'right now’ _.” The older laughs,__  
“You’re not as hard as you try to make yourself out to be, Sungie.”  
“And you’re not as happy as you make yourself out to be, Jaemin.” Said boy gawks and punches the taller’s shoulder as he walks over to his other friend standing next to the halfpipe.  
“Brat!” Jaemin yells but it only comes unto unlistening ears as Jisung does some weird handshake with Chenle.

_____ _

Jaemin rests his head on the palm of his hand as he mulls over what Jisung had told him. Maybe it _was _time to live in the ‘ _right now _’, as the younger had phrased it; 'time to stop forcing love into his life and kicking new platonic relationships to the side. Perhaps it was time for some changes, he makes a side note to talk to Renjun about this as he stands up to stretch, the sun now slowly but surely coming to rest under the waves. Jaemin takes one more look at the skatepark, Jisung and Chenle watching in awe as some new kid talked animatedly about rollerblading, before walking onto the beach. He takes off his socks and shoes then rolls up his joggers as he reaches the water. Looking up at the golden sun, he lets the cold water surround his feet, sand finding its way in between his toes. It’s serene, the pent up stress and anxiety finding its way out of the boy’s body and making a new home on the ocean floor. Worriless.____  
“Jaemin?” The brown haired boy whips his head around,  
“Yukhei?” The taller waves, rather than the usual reckless and welcoming one, it’s rather slow and awkward.  
“Hey, haven’t really seen you around lately.” Jaemin smiles, trying to keep a positive vibe for both of their sakes.  
“Just been studying a lot, not working out as much either.”  
“It’s summer, Yukhei.”  
“With my languages, I mean. I’d like to be fluent in more than just two.” Yukhei smiles and rubs at the back of his neck.  
“What an overachiever,” they both chuckle a bit before becoming quiet, letting the sound of waves and wheels take over.  
The younger taps his foot as best as he can in the water, this was kind of painfully unsettling now.  
Yukhei sighs and faces the other,  
“I came here to say sorry for what happened a few weeks ago.” Jaemin is quiet as he continues with his apology.  
“I-I should’ve been more in control, I shouldn’t have to have you hold me back from hurting someone-”  
“Don’t worry, Mark has a good way of pissing people off.”  
“He’s doing a good job then- I’ve never been so angry in my life. He jokes about things too much and - and he doesn't know that even though what happened was my fault, that it still hurts me just as much as everyone else.” Yukhei shakes his head and swallows.  
“ I can usually handle myself pretty well, but this time I just broke.” He laughs bitterly and looks down,  
“I know it’s not an excuse but-”  
Jaemin cuts him off from his tangent as he puts an arm around his shoulders.  
“We all get mad, Yukhei, and we all make sucky mistakes. It’s fine, but I do think that you should probably say sorry to Mark.”  
The younger waits for a response but only gets silence.  
“Renjun’s been helping him not be such a dweeb to people- it shouldn’t be that bad.”  
“I think so too- but, to be honest, I’m a little nervous of Renjun being there, he’s kind of-”  
“Overwhelming?” Yukhei smiles and nods.  
“He’ll be alright, he’s more on your side, if there even are any, anyway. Renjun knows Mark’s a dumbass even if they are- uh, doing whatever it is that they're doing.” The shorter tries to clarify, wondering himself what exactly the relationship was with his best friend and older boy.  
“That makes me feel a little better,” The older crosses his arms lazily as he looks off into the sea, the side of his mouth quirking up.  
The shorter pats his back and make his way out of the water, grabbing his shoes and socks,  
“Well, I’m going back to the skatepark, but we all know you’re a good guy, Yukhei, don’t worry about it. Uh, see you around?”  
The boy smiles big and wide, eyes gleaming like they used to,  
“See you around.”  
Jaemin smiles as he comes back to the skatepark, Jisung and Chenle immediately coming to meet him.  
“What was that about?” Chenle automatically asks, setting his blue scooter down next to him.  
“Probably about Mark getting his ass kicked.”  
Jaemin sucks in a breath and shrugs.  
“Yea, just him saying sorry, really.”  
“Why’d he say sorry to you?” Jisung questioned as he went to grab most likely Chenle’s bag from a nearby bench, the kid never went anywhere without it.  
“I held him back from doing any more damage to our dear acquaintance.”  
The blonde makes a noise of understanding but the taller only snorts.  
“You? Holding Wong Yukhei back? The same guy who bench presses twice my weight and then some?”  
“What can I say? I’m stronger than I look.”  
Jisung mutters a ‘You gotta be kidding me’ while Chenle laughs and nudges the eldest with an elbow.  
“You must be really strong, Nana. I bet you could beat Jisung up!”  
“Anyone could beat Jisung up, Lele.” Jisung sucked on his teeth in annoyance as his friend laughed once more.  
“Anyways, Le and I were going to watch some movies and have a sleepover, we were gonna see if you wanted to join us.”  
The brown-haired boy shook his head after thinking about the invitation.  
“I’ll pass tonight- wanna think of what will make the summer better.”  
“And the best way to do that is to be by yourself?” The taller deadpans, bringing his sunglasses down to hang on his shirt collar.  
“Sometimes you just need some time by yourself to think,” The shorter of the three thinks aloud and Jaemin smiles in agreement.  
“Go on without me, If I change my mind I’ll come over, you know I live like three minutes away from you.” He tells Chenle as they share a hug while Jisung grumbles something about rich people. They share light words as they depart, Jaemin waving to them still as their backs are turned and become smaller with each passing moment.  
It was time for a change.


End file.
